We have a bedtime routine with Joel and it works well for Joel --he is a much better sleeper now and much more fun to prepare to sleep too. He even seems to like tooth brushing. Overall, he knows what is coming and he is much more happy to accept those routines than he was before they became completely predictable. It all impacts how long he lets himself sleep, which has expanded a lot. Yay for sleep.

The break has been great. We are looking forward to continuing it for another weekend in which Anne's parents will be visiting. They were moving Scott from Orlando to his new job in Tempe (AZ) for US Air. Joel had a great little Xmas time. Family got him nice small things and we got rid of a lot of tpys that were not used--so the avalanche of plastic junk never happened. Toys don't matter that much to Joel because he is too busy walking for anything (other an occasional rocking horse) to distract him.

We are hosting an open New Years Eve here (hosting makes sense because of Joel--that, and it sure is fun to host). Please give me a call if you are interested, even if it is super-tentative for you. I am hoping that we will be able to have a good night of hanging around, having some wine, and maybe getting out a game or two.

Tomorrow is the time for cutting down the ash tree in my front yard. A neighbor was really excited about helping, which is great. Oh yeah, we baked and took some shortbread cookies around to neighbors about 2 weeks ago. We had a really fun night getting to know people. It was easily the most bonding thing we have experienced with the neighbors. I highly recommend it.

Anyway, I hope yall have had a great relaxing break! Let us know about NYE!

Checking in...

We have discovered that joy is having a 10 month old who knows how to lift your shirt up and blow a raspberry on your stomach. He has actually woken Anne up like this...though anyone lying on the ground seems to be fair game. He is growing and getting smarter and stronger in every way. He truly has a personality, and it is good (though a "likes to go to sleep" dimension to his personality would make it even better).

In other news, it has been a while since a post. We have been really busy, but all is ok. The main computer is not usable (flaking out and minorly corrupting data, so I pulled the plug until I can do the first major upgrade in 5 years). I am doing work and dissertation until I am graduated but not much else. The house is surprisingly done (the basement work went well). There are a million little things I would like to do, but none are urgent and I am not doing optional stuff until I graduate.